Code of Honor (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Michael Winnick’s “Code of Honor” is an exciting Steven Seagal action film! While Seagal is the actor highlighting this film, the true action lead for “Code of Honor” goes to actor Craig Sheffer, who also does a great job in this action film. If you love popcorn action films, “Code of Honor” is recommended!

Oscar® nominee James Franco is riveting as a famous but troubled author whose fascination with a high-profile murder case brings his own dark past into focus. Based on the best-selling book by Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries follows one man’s desperate journey through sex, drugs, and lies as he tries to separate fact from fiction and ignite a life-changing romance. Ed Harris and Amber Heard costar in this gritty story about the shocking discoveries that lie beneath the truth.

Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”, “Above the Law”, “On Deadly Ground”) returns with a new action film titled “Code of Honor”.

The film begins with a drug deal between two major gangs. As the deal is made, high above on top of a silo is Col. Robert Sikes (portrayed by Steven Seagal) who takes out all of the drug dealers and gang members with his sniper and machine gun except one person.

Investigating the scene is Detective James Peterson (portrayed by Louis Mandylor) who runs into Special Agent William Porter (portrayed by Craig Sheffer). Both men will be working on the case, but Detective Peterson is unclear of why the feds are involved.

Meanwhile, Romano, who lost a lot of money in the drug deal wants to know who is responsible for gunning down his men and ruining the deal.

At a strip bar owned by Romano, an escort named Keri Green (portrayed by Helena Mattsson) receives a call to go to her son’s school. Before she leaves, she sees a man sitting in the back (who happens to be Col. Sykes). As she leaves, we see Col. Sykes also getting up and leaving a brief case behind. He ends up detonating the case inside the strip club and more people are dead.

Special Agent Porter sees Col. Sykes and confirms he is the man he is after. He briefs Detective Peterson and his fellow agents that they are dealing with one of the best special operatives who wants revenge against all criminals due to the murders of his wife and child (who were gunned down in a drive-by shooting by gang members), while he was out serving the country. And also, Porter may have some sort of history with Sykes that he is not sharing with the police force.

Because Keri was one of the last people to leave the club and see a man at the club, Special Agent Porter knows she and her child may be in danger, as the gang mobster Romano will be looking for her.

As Special Agent Porter is doing all he can to search for Col. Sykes, Col. Sykes continues his killing spree of gang members, drug dealers and pimps.

And while the police want to stop Sykes, the media and its viewers are praising the criminal murderer, dubbed “The Super Vigilante”.

VIDEO:

“Code of Honor” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio). The film looks vibrant in outdoor scenes and close ups are full of detail. There are moments where blood splatters from far distances in some instances look too CG but for the most part, picture quality is very good for the film.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Code of Honor” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. As this is an actual film, there is a lot of surround sound usage during the gun battle exchanges and also good use of LFE during the explosions. But overall, dialogue and sound effects are crystal clear.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are no special features for “Code of Honor”.

EXTRAS:

“Code of Honor” comes with a slipcover and UltraViolet Digital HD code.

Whenever there is news of a Steven Seagal film coming out, there is one thing you can always expect and that is plenty of action.

As Seagal has been one of America’s top action heroes since the early ’90s, I have to admit that watching his latest film “Code of Honor”, while his name is featured, as with his image on the front cover of the Blu-ray and DVD, the truth is that Seagal only shows up for several scenes and the primary action star of the film is Craig Sheffer, who plays the role of William Porter.

Seagal as Col. Robert Sikes is primarily seen using a sniper or machine gun taking out criminals, but the film focuses on Sheffer’s Porter who is tasked of finding and going after Col. Sikes, but also trying to help out Helena Mattson’s character, Keri Green from being kidnapped or killed by the mafia.

And at first, what appears to be a banal cat and mouse type of storyline, the film then adds a twist that you never see coming. And I have to give writer/director Michael Winnick some props for taking the film to a different much better direction thanks to the film’s storyline twist.

And as a popcorn action film, one can expect a lot of gun and knife battles, explosions galore and for the most part, “Code of Honor” was more entertaining than what I was expecting. Truthfully, I was expecting an action b-movie film with a limited budget with sparse action scenes and limited action. But the film turned out much more exciting and entertaining thanks to Porter vs. Sikes vs. Mafia storyline.

Sure, there are moments where acting by a few of the non-lead characters were a bit so-so and scenes where things such as blood splattering after shots looked a bit CG, but fight choreography and just the overall grittiness of the film and how the characters were utilized, “Code of Honor” turned out to be a cool action film.

As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality was solid, as outdoor scenes were vibrant, closeups show great detail. Lossless audio was well-utilized during the gun battles and overall action sequences. Unfortunately, there are no special features included.

Overall, Michael Winnick’s “Code of Honor” is an exciting Steven Seagal action film! While Seagal is the actor highlighting this film, the true action lead for “Code of Honor” goes to actor Craig Sheffer, who also does a great job in this action film.

If you love popcorn action films, “Code of Honor” is recommended!

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